I did see the coverage in Empire magazine (excellent, as always from that magazine), but did not see extensive coverage on TV, radio and in the press before the film came out. I didn't know about the ST supplement.

The LOTR films seemed to be everywhere before they were released (I wasn't paying particular attention to the first film before it came out, but even so noticed quite a bit of promotional material and was certainly very aware of it without knowing what to expect).